The vamp aesthetic in rap has made a recent return. This can be seen in the frequent references to vampire and occult based terminology in the latest Playboi Carti record, “Whole Lotta Red.” The rage, saw oriented beats often sound haunting or straight up sample gothic classical music. An example of this being in the song “Vamp Anthem” the instrumental samples Johann Sebastian Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor". This however, is not the first example of a gothic, vampire oriented stylistic sound in rap music. This is far from that.
This aesthetic in rap has its roots which can trace back to a Jimmy Spicer song from 1980. Spicer raps, “And while I rocked the mic, this is what I said, About Dracula, the living dead, He didn't like blood, not this vampire, this disco beat was his desire”. This is from the song “Adventures of Super Rhyme”.
Gangsta Pat and early horrorcore of memphis rap in the 90s, references the occult and at this time, this style was known as horrorcore, there were not a lot of vampire references but some hints. Gangsta Pat raps in the song “Smoke with the Devil”, “Chaos killin', stealin', dealin', and murder from dusk until dawn.” This is a reference to the fact that vampires can only be outside from the night until the morning to avoid sunlight. Rather subliminal but present. Gangsta Pat’s “Deadly Verses” remains the greatest horrorcore album of all time (in my opinion). There are frequent occult and vampire references in songs by Al Kapone, Mac D.L.E., Manson Family, and Three 6 Mafia.
Later horrorcore acts that inspired what was to come would be Tech N9ne, the Geto Boys, and Insane Clown Posse. What was to come would be the rise of phonk, trillwave and emo rap. The fusion of gothic subject matter and a modern vaporwave sound started in acts like DJ Yung Vamp, DJ Smokey, SpaceGhostPurpp, Yung Bruh, Bladee, and Yung Lean. DJ Smokey dropped “Evil Ways” in 2013, a phonk masterpiece with a gothic aesthetic. DJ Yung Vamp dropped “More Blood In My Cup Vol. 1” in 2016 with a clear vamp aesthetic. This style clearly has its roots in phonk with SpaceGhostPurrp a creator of phonk releasing a project in 2017 called “Vamp Money”. Lil Tracy dropped “Vampire in the Moonlight countin money up” in 2017 which clearly influenced the emo rap subgenre to go into that subject matter.
The vamp aesthetic in rap is essentially a stylistic choice to add to the horrorcore aesthetic in rap which has existed for decades. I hope this article informs Playboi Carti fans, or any fans of new acts that use this style to dive into the history of this style. Your journey will be a blessed experience if you decide to listen to old DJ Smokey, SpaceGhostPurrp, and others.
I am “the wizard” maddsnake, mike hass, signing out.
Amazig